The latest version of Google's Android operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich, has been on the receiving end of an award for its user experience, something that we would not have put any money on happening just a year or so ago.
One of the expected outcomes of WWDC's opening keynote event was the removal of Google Maps from iOS, with it being replaced by Apple's own in-house solution that not only gives the Cupertino firm more control over the maps experience, but also knocks Google out of its stride on one of the world's most popular smartphones and, let's not forget, tablets.
Whenever we think about tablet-type PCs, the iPad is invariably the product that gets mentioned as it seems to be regarded as the best tablet product available, and rightly so in my opinion. A number of products have been pushed to the market running the Android operating system that have attempted to compete in the slate industry, but nothing has really seemed to match up to Apple’s offering.
Google's Nexus movement is set to get into sixth gear later this year, with reports suggesting five different smartphones landing on November 5th. To add to the rumor mill, images have surfaced which claim to depict a Nexus tablet.
Google has just announced some significant changes to its mobile Maps apps, with both offline mode and 3D maps heading to Android and iOS in the not-too-distant future. Given the Big G's purchase of Quickoffice - just after it was revealed Microsoft would finally bring its Office suite to mobile - we are under no illusions that Google will fight its competitors tooth and nail in every market going. Talk has been rife for several months of Apple's plans to ditch the stock Google Maps app within iOS in favor of its own, in-house solution, and with 3D mapping - courtesy of C3 Technologies - being one of the main features, Google is looking to up its game in order to retain dominance in the mapping market.
There's always some sort of brewing battle in the tech industry, particularly between Apple, Google and Microsoft - the three main players in the mobile game. With Microsoft readying the cross-platform Windows 8 operating system and having recently announced its famous Office suite would make its way to mobile in the coming months, Google has decided to join the party by acquiring Quickoffice.
In Google's Project Glass augmented reality technology, we're seeing things only usually showcased conceptually, and having recently made its first television appearance, our inner geek is captivated by this project, which the Google Glass team reckons to be the natural progression of today's technologies.
It was only a few weeks ago when Google pushed out an eye-candy version 2.0 update for its Google+ app for the iPhone. Although it’s the best update to the Google+ app we’ve seen so far, but it was somewhat strange to see that the iPhone version was released first instead of the Android version.
Google CEO Larry Page has just announced that the company has at last completed its acquisition of Motorola Mobility, which has been in the works for around 9 months now. Originally announced in August of last year, Google had plenty of regulatory approval hurdles in its way before it could finalize the move; but with the approval of the acquisition coming from China a few days ago, the company was finally able to seal the deal. Motorola Mobility has now been acquired by Google for $12.5 billion, meaning that the company paid $40 per share.
Google's Chrome web browser has been taking the geek world by storm for some time now, even spawning Google's somewhat failed attempt at making the browser the whole operating system with Chrome OS, but the truth is that what many would term 'normal people' just don't use it.
